1. Field of Art
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of computer resource management. Specifically presented are methods and systems for upgrading frameworks used for computer resource access control and user identity administration.
2. Description of Related Art
Sharing and distribution of information has become the main focus in the computer age. Modern sharing and distribution methods and systems provide resource access regulations. This allows for increased security, reduced operational costs, and improved usability of shared and/or distributed resources.
Companies and agencies providing information would benefit from resource access regulations provided by sharing and distribution methods and systems. For example, these organizations may regulate their employees' access to various corporate data to control who can access what resource. For instance, an employee portal system may be protected with a username and password, but for a more sensitive HR self-service application that deals with sensitive data, users may be required to be authenticated using an RSA SecurID® token, thus providing a higher level of security to more sensitive resources or applications. Therefore, access management solutions have been developed to implement regulations for accessing resources for resource providers.
Access management solutions may provide centralized authentication, authorization, and auditing to enable single sign-on and secure access control using enterprise resources. For example, Oracle Access Manager, a product of Oracle International Corporation of Redwood Shores in California, is configured to support Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Collaboration suite applications.
Generally, access managers are not designed to be easily upgraded. An upgrade process of an access manager involves extensive and complex tasks to be performed by users, for example, system administrators and operators. For instance, upgrading an access manager framework may include as many as 25 manual steps to be performed by a user in order to upgrade the access manager framework from one version to a subsequent version of the access manager framework. A simplified upgrade process of an access manager framework can lead to an optimized and hassle free process while improving the performance of the access manager.
There exists a need in the art for better upgrading techniques using an upgrade framework to provide for easier upgrade process of the access manager and regulate upgrading process within multiple versions. This way, upgrading an access manager becomes a streamlined process requiring minimal, if any, user intervention that can used to meet the widely growing demand of simplified upgrading and management of access managers especially in today's growing complex enterprise environments.